Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Rescued Bangladeshi minor girls eager to return home

After facing six months of sexual exploitation, the two minor Bangladeshi girls, who were rescued on Monday night after one of their customers himself took pity on their plight and informed an NGO, are now all set and eager to return home.

The two girls, aged 16 and 17, were rescued by the anti-human trafficking cell of the Thane Rural police after the NGO lodged a complaint. dna had reported about it on November 27.

Representational pic - Gaurav Kadam/DNA

Hailing from Rabarkandi in Bajitpur, they were all praise for the 30-something man who saved them, and cursed Mohammed Akhtar Iraqi, the man who allegedly sold them to agents, for forcing them into flesh trade. When dna spoke to them, in broken Hindi they narrated the torture and trauma they went through in the last few months.

“We were told that we would be given jobs in Mumbai. We had heard a lot about the big city and had also paid Rs5,000 to the agent who brought us into India from the Bangladesh border. Later, we were taken by train to Kurla and resided in the slums there. We were also kept at Kamathipura and then brought to Nalasopara and given rooms there,” said the 16-year-old girl, trying to let it sink in that she had finally been rescued.

“Later, I was told to go with a very old man. I went with him to a shanty, where he started taking my clothes off. I restrained him but he called Iraqi who assaulted me and asked me to obey the old man. The old man sexually exploited me. Soon after, I came across several other young girls like me, all from Bangladesh, who too were involved in flesh trade.”

Talking about her ordeal, the 17-year-old girl said, “I wanted to get away from all this filth, I wanted to go back and play with my friends. But if I refused to comply with the orders, I was not given food and was beaten up. One day, a customer hit me on my right eye after I refused to sleep with him.”

“After several months, we came to know that we had been sold to Iraqi for Rs50,000 each. We came across several men to whom we pleaded to save us but no one helped. We both suffered a lot of pain. But we also became good friends in these months and we are thankful to the police for rescuing us,” she added.

Even as an NGO member counselled them, highlighting the fact that they were free now and would be with their parents soon, the 16-year-old said, “We want to go back home and live a life of dignity, we don’t want to enter this world. But I feel sad for the other women from Bangladesh who are trapped in this trade and have now become dependent on it for money.”

‘We want to live a life of dignity’

The two girls, aged 16 and 17, were rescued by the anti-human trafficking cell of the Thane Rural police after the NGO lodged a complaint.

Hailing from Bajitpur, they were all praise for the 30-something man who saved them, and cursed Mohammed Akhtar Iraqi, the man who allegedly sold them to agents, for forcing them into flesh trade.

The 16-year-old said, “We want to go back home and live a life of dignity; we don’t want to enter this world. But I feel sad for the other women from Bangladesh who are trapped in this trade.”